SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
People hold signs calling for U.S. President Joe Biden to support a Green New Deal and end his support of pipelines and the fossil fuel industry in St. Paul on January 29, 2021. (Photo: Tim Evans/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Climate Campaigners Demand 'Action, Not Words' After Biden's 'Code Red' Comments
"If President Biden believes this is an actual 'code red' situation, he should treat it as such by declaring a climate emergency immediately through an executive order and stopping all fossil fuel projects."
Sep 09, 2021
Responding to U.S. President Joe Biden's recent comments calling the climate emergency a "code red" situation, environmental and Indigenous leaders representing a coalition of advocacy groups on Thursday implored the administration to act accordingly by declaring a climate emergency and stopping all fossil fuel projects.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry."
--Tara Houska, Giniw Collective
"President Biden has acknowledged that the climate crisis is here. In fact, to quote him, he said 'climate change poses an existential threat to our lives and our economy, and the threat is here,'" Jane Kleeb, president and founder of Bold Alliance and Bold Nebraska, said during a press call organized by the Build Back Fossil Free campaign.
Kleeb referenced Biden's Tuesday visit to the Tri-State Area in the wake of the deadly devastation wrought by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, during which he said: "They all tell us this is code red. The nation and the world are in peril. And that's not hyperbole. That is a fact."
"Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, our economy, and the threat is here," the president added. "It's not going to get any better. The question is: Can it get worse?"
Kleeb replied that "all of us who work with frontline communities are here to answer President Biden's question: It can get worse--and with his administration's decisions--it is getting worse."
"President Biden has the full authority right now--without Congress--to hit a pause button on all proposed fossil fuel projects," she said. "If President Biden believes this is an actual 'code red' situation, he should treat it as such by declaring a climate emergency immediately through an executive order and stopping all fossil fuel projects."
While Biden delighted climate campaigners by rescinding the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, the president has disappointed many activists by declining to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), as well as for defending a massive Trump-era drilling project in Alaska, and for so far refusing to cancel Enbridge's Line 3 project.
"Over 800 of us have been arrested fighting against the Line 3 tar sands expansion project," Giniw Collective founder Tara Houska said on the call. "To hear President Biden talk about the climate emergency as 'code red' yet knowing that he has said absolutely nothing about the brutalization that's occurred of water protectors, and the collaboration between state and private interests in this fight, is hypocrisy."
Underscoring the dissonance between Biden's often lofty rhetoric and his administration's actions in the face of a worsening emergency, climate campaigners on Thursday responded with alarm after the president tapped Willie L. Phillips--who Food & Water Watch policy director Mitch Jones said "spent his career working on the side of the oil and gas industry and electric utility giants"--to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry," said Houska. "It'd be good to see action, not words."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Responding to U.S. President Joe Biden's recent comments calling the climate emergency a "code red" situation, environmental and Indigenous leaders representing a coalition of advocacy groups on Thursday implored the administration to act accordingly by declaring a climate emergency and stopping all fossil fuel projects.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry."
--Tara Houska, Giniw Collective
"President Biden has acknowledged that the climate crisis is here. In fact, to quote him, he said 'climate change poses an existential threat to our lives and our economy, and the threat is here,'" Jane Kleeb, president and founder of Bold Alliance and Bold Nebraska, said during a press call organized by the Build Back Fossil Free campaign.
Kleeb referenced Biden's Tuesday visit to the Tri-State Area in the wake of the deadly devastation wrought by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, during which he said: "They all tell us this is code red. The nation and the world are in peril. And that's not hyperbole. That is a fact."
"Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, our economy, and the threat is here," the president added. "It's not going to get any better. The question is: Can it get worse?"
Kleeb replied that "all of us who work with frontline communities are here to answer President Biden's question: It can get worse--and with his administration's decisions--it is getting worse."
"President Biden has the full authority right now--without Congress--to hit a pause button on all proposed fossil fuel projects," she said. "If President Biden believes this is an actual 'code red' situation, he should treat it as such by declaring a climate emergency immediately through an executive order and stopping all fossil fuel projects."
While Biden delighted climate campaigners by rescinding the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, the president has disappointed many activists by declining to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), as well as for defending a massive Trump-era drilling project in Alaska, and for so far refusing to cancel Enbridge's Line 3 project.
"Over 800 of us have been arrested fighting against the Line 3 tar sands expansion project," Giniw Collective founder Tara Houska said on the call. "To hear President Biden talk about the climate emergency as 'code red' yet knowing that he has said absolutely nothing about the brutalization that's occurred of water protectors, and the collaboration between state and private interests in this fight, is hypocrisy."
Underscoring the dissonance between Biden's often lofty rhetoric and his administration's actions in the face of a worsening emergency, climate campaigners on Thursday responded with alarm after the president tapped Willie L. Phillips--who Food & Water Watch policy director Mitch Jones said "spent his career working on the side of the oil and gas industry and electric utility giants"--to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry," said Houska. "It'd be good to see action, not words."
Responding to U.S. President Joe Biden's recent comments calling the climate emergency a "code red" situation, environmental and Indigenous leaders representing a coalition of advocacy groups on Thursday implored the administration to act accordingly by declaring a climate emergency and stopping all fossil fuel projects.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry."
--Tara Houska, Giniw Collective
"President Biden has acknowledged that the climate crisis is here. In fact, to quote him, he said 'climate change poses an existential threat to our lives and our economy, and the threat is here,'" Jane Kleeb, president and founder of Bold Alliance and Bold Nebraska, said during a press call organized by the Build Back Fossil Free campaign.
Kleeb referenced Biden's Tuesday visit to the Tri-State Area in the wake of the deadly devastation wrought by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, during which he said: "They all tell us this is code red. The nation and the world are in peril. And that's not hyperbole. That is a fact."
"Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, our economy, and the threat is here," the president added. "It's not going to get any better. The question is: Can it get worse?"
Kleeb replied that "all of us who work with frontline communities are here to answer President Biden's question: It can get worse--and with his administration's decisions--it is getting worse."
"President Biden has the full authority right now--without Congress--to hit a pause button on all proposed fossil fuel projects," she said. "If President Biden believes this is an actual 'code red' situation, he should treat it as such by declaring a climate emergency immediately through an executive order and stopping all fossil fuel projects."
While Biden delighted climate campaigners by rescinding the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, the president has disappointed many activists by declining to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), as well as for defending a massive Trump-era drilling project in Alaska, and for so far refusing to cancel Enbridge's Line 3 project.
"Over 800 of us have been arrested fighting against the Line 3 tar sands expansion project," Giniw Collective founder Tara Houska said on the call. "To hear President Biden talk about the climate emergency as 'code red' yet knowing that he has said absolutely nothing about the brutalization that's occurred of water protectors, and the collaboration between state and private interests in this fight, is hypocrisy."
Underscoring the dissonance between Biden's often lofty rhetoric and his administration's actions in the face of a worsening emergency, climate campaigners on Thursday responded with alarm after the president tapped Willie L. Phillips--who Food & Water Watch policy director Mitch Jones said "spent his career working on the side of the oil and gas industry and electric utility giants"--to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"In the face of the climate crisis, we should not be expanding the fossil fuel industry and allowing the government to subsidize and hand off funds to the fossil fuel industry," said Houska. "It'd be good to see action, not words."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.